Former Texas Coach Darrell Royal Dies At 88

AUSTIN, Texas -- Darrell Royal, the former Texas football coach known as much for his folksy, simplistic approach to life as for his creative wishbone offenses and two national championships, has died. He was 88.

University of Texas spokesman Nick Voinis on Wednesday confirmed Royal's death. Royal had suffered from Alzheimer's disease and recently fell at an assisted living center where he was receiving care.

Royal, who also starred as a defensive back and quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners, didn't have a single losing season in his 23 years as a head coach at Texas, Mississippi State and Washington. During his 20 years at Texas (1957-1976), his teams boasted a 167-47-5 record -- the best mark in the nation during that period. One season ended with an even record.

"It was fun," Royal told The Associated Press in 2007. "All the days I was coaching at Texas, I knew this would be my last coaching job. I knew it when I got here."

Royal was just 32 when Texas hired him. The Longhorns hadn't had a winning season since 1953, and Royal immediately turned the program around. Under Royal, Texas won 11 Southwest Conference titles, 10 Cotton Bowl championships and national championships in 1963 and 1969, going 11-0 each time. The Longhorns also won a share of the 1970 national title.

4. Memorable quotes from Darrell Royal during his coaching career

On the possibility of changing the look of Texas’ uniforms: “Hell, no, I’m not going to candy this thing up. These are work clothes.”

“Only angry people win football games.”

“Football doesn’t build character. It eliminates the weak ones.”

“You’ve got to think lucky. If you fall into a mudhole, check your back pocket. You might have caught a fish.”

“Every coach likes those players who, like trained pigs, will grin and jump right in the slop.”

“Old ugly is better than old nothin’.”

“Breaks balance out. The sun don’t shine on the same ol’ dog’s rear end every day.”

“As long as a person doesn’t admit he is defeated, he is not defeated — he’s just a little behind and isn’t through fighting.”

“If he bites you as a dog, he will bite you as a pup.”

“They cut us up like boarding house pie. And that’s real small pieces.”

“I don’t count on the boy who waits till October, when it’s cool and fun, then decides he wants to play. Maybe he’s better than three guys ahead of him, but I know those three won’t change their minds in the fourth quarter.”

“(TCU) is like a bunch of cockroaches. It’s not what they eat and tote off, it’s what they fall into and mess up that hurts.”

“I knew that when I resigned from the University of Texas that I would never coach again. I learned this about coaching: You don’t have to explain victory and you can’t explain defeat.”

On facing a tough conference schedule after playing a soft non-conference slate: “All the white meat is gone. There’s nothin’ but necks on the platter.”

“He doesn’t have a lot of speed, but maybe Elizabeth Taylor can’t sing.”

On the 1969 national-title game against Arkansas: “I was as nervous as a pig in a packing plant.”

On Oklahoma Sooners running back Joe Washington: “He’s smoother than smoke through a key hole.”

“Will Rogers never met Barry Switzer.”

“Winning coaches must treat mistakes like copperheads in the bedclothes — avoid them with all the energy you can muster.”

On calling for James Street’s game-changing pass to Randy Peschel in the 1969 showdown against Arkansas: “Sometimes you have to suck it up and call a number.”

“If worms carried pistols, birds wouldn’t eat ‘em.”

On running back James Saxton: “He runs like a bucket full of minnows.”

“Give me a guy with his jaw stuck out, his shirt sleeves rolled up and who swaggers when he walks. I know it’s Harry High School, but if I have to make a choice I’ll take the cocky, over-confident, conceited kid over the one who has so much humility he can’t look you in the eye.”